Black Hearts
by freifraufischer
Summary: Romantic Snow Queen. After drinking the potion to forget her prince (in 1.16), Snow sneaks into the Queen's palace to kill her. But even with her heart darkened, she wants some else entirely from Regina. The Evil Queen, seeing a chance at an entirely different kind of revenge sets out to make her very own Dark Knight, but who will pay the steepest price for the Queen's revenge?
1. Chapter 1

Snow White crept along the castle corridors in which she had once run and laughed and played. The dwarfs had meant well, she knew that, but there was only one way she was ever going to reclaim her life. It wasn't that hard to sneak into the castle. Regina might have ruthless guards and set traps, but she grew up there and knew every corner and every crack.

Regina hadn't moved into the King's chambers it seemed, still using her own. Her mother's. Snow pulled the knife from its sheaf as she crept towards the Queen's sleeping form. The blade caught the light from the moon outside and she hovered above her frozen in indecision she did not expect to have. This woman... lied to her for years, she killed her father, she sent men after her to rip out her heart. How could she be hesitating now?

But the figure below her was not just the Evil Queen. She was Regina, the soft lines of her face tracing the smile she remembered so easily. curve of her jaw... the silky blackness of her hair.

Her father had once called Snow the fairest of them all, but even then she knew he was delusional if he thought that was true.

She raised the knife again, trying to steel her determination to murder the sleeping Queen.

Except she wasn't sleeping. Regina turned in the bed and looked up into her eyes, wide awake.

"I have to say, I didn't think you had it in you Snow. But then again... you've been standing there for quite some time so perhaps you don't."

"You ruined my life," Snow breathed hard, her hand was shaking though and the queen made no move to stop her.

She knew she could. She was a bit surprised that her neck was not already snapped or that she hadn't been lit on fire. Or both.

"I ruined your life?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow and a sneer that brought out the lines of the scar on her lip even in the low light. "Why don't you just go ahead and do it Snow? Plunge the knife in."

The bandit princess' took a large inhale but instead of sinking the blade in she dropped it.

Even with the darkness in her heart from the potion she didn't remember taking... she could not kill Regina.

The queen stood up and smiled.

"Always so predictable princess. Though I will grant you, it takes a certain amount of reckless stupidity I didn't really attribute to you for you to sneak into your own home. But then again... you were stupid enough to lose it."

Stupid. This entire thing had been stupid of her. Of course she knew that, but hearing Regina's words. Knowing she probably wouldn't survive the night, stupid seemed like it was all she had left. And so she did something even stupider.

She kissed Regina. Their lips crashed together and she knew she'd surprised her because she didn't respond at all for a moment before much to Snow's surprise the Queen was kissing her back. There was even a little bit of a growl.

"You don't want to do this, Princess."

"For once in your life shut up, Regina." And snow pushed the queen back into the bed and crawled on top of her, continuing the kissing, moving down to her neck and running a free hand through her long thick hair. "If I'm going to die I'm going to at least do this first."

She expected to be pushed off, to be stopped, to be restrained, but none of that happened. The Queen's body moved with her as if she too had been longing for this. Or she knew how to make Snow think she had been longing for it. And the truth was Snow didn't care.

She stopped kissing her long enough to push Regina's night gown up and place a hand between her legs. Snow didn't have a lot of sexual experience but she knew what that dampness meant. She knew that Regina wanted this. Perhaps even needed it.

And she needed it. Because in that moment it wasn't the mad woman trying to kill her or the ice bitch. In that moment the look on Regina's face as she touched her was the woman she fell in love with so many years ago. But still the woman she also hated. Two fingers pushed in, with all the gentleness of a rough forest-woman she was now and none of the ease of the princess she once was. Curling a little she pumped them in and out a few times before resting her thumb on Regina's clitoris. She wasn't moving fast. She had no real desire to have this over with quickly and making Regina long for her might be the last thing she ever did so she was going to make it worth the fight.

Regina for her part was staring at her eyes sharp and hard, but a smile creeping across her lips.

"Had I known this was what you were looking for all along, Snow, I might not have wanted to kill you."

Snow twisted her fingers a bit just to make sure she got a reaction from Regina for that, but began to move her fingers faster. When the Queen came it was a powerful orgasm and much to Snow's satisfaction she screamed out her name.

It was good to know that she could scream for more than her head.

Her hand tired she lay down next to Regina and waited for death to come. Her life was forfeit, she knew, the moment she didn't kill her. Or perhaps the moment she got the idea to try.

But her neck didn't snap. And she didn't find herself on fire. Instead the queen rolled over and stroked her hair. "You smell like forest dear. I really must insist you take a bath in the morning and we find you some cloths befitting a princess." There was a dark fire in the Evil Queen's eyes.

"You aren't going to kill me?"

"Not tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. Now sleep my Princess." She leaned in and kissed her forehead like Regina had done a thousand times before.


	2. Chapter 2

Snow woke up in the soft bed, covers pulled over and the sun beating down on her face as if the last 6 years of her life had been a terrible dream. Except that this wasn't her bedroom. Or her bed. It was the Queen's chambers and Regina was nowhere in sight.

There was a dressing gown folded over a chair and the array of weapons Snow had had on her when she entered the castle to kill the queen were laid out neatly on a side table. The dagger she'd held over Regina's chest caught her eye and she remembered with a racing heart what had happened the night before. Everything that had happened the night before.

There was a bit of rustling skirts and she turned suddenly expecting the Queen... but no... it was a young maid, younger than her at least.

"I didn't wake, Your Highness? Her Majesty left strict instructions that you were to be allowed to sleep in." The younger woman didn't look up.

"Did she?"

"Yes, Princess. She said you were to be drawn a bath and wash up. I have a couple of dresses to see if they fit you and Her Majesty desires you attend lunch with her."

Snow wasn't sure she was still asleep. She pinched herself but that didn't tell her anything.

"You know who I am."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And you don't think this is strange?"

"My... m'lady... in this castle it is best not to ask too many questions of the Queen's moods."

"Probably good for your health."

She nodded. "The Queen... can actually be quite kind. If you are loyal."

Snow smiled a little sadly, "I'll take your word for it. The bath?"

The servant girl nodded and led her away. If she was going to die today at least she could die without months of grime. It had been ages since she got a proper bath.

It wasn't lost on her that she seemed to be enjoying everything just a bit more with the expectation that she'd die soon.

After a long bath and a dress fitting that found one that fit her now more muscled frame she had quietly slipped a knife into the folds of the cloth, telling herself that she'd stab Regina before the other woman had a chance to kill her.

She wasn't expecting the stunning view when she arrived in the dining room. Not the one out the window but rather Regina in a slinky blue velvet gown that accentuated every curve. She'd worn it a few times when Snow was still in the castle and she had found it mesmerizing then as well. But she hadn't been old enough or worldly enough to understand why.

"Regina."

"Ah, Snow. And not reeking of hey and the excrement of woodland creatures. Good."

"You always had a way with words."

"Yes, well, I don't think we need to have any secrets between us anymore. After last night." The Queen, the Evil Queen, Snow reminded herself, gestured to a chair. "Please sit. I thought we could discuss your return to grace over roast swan."

"Have I returned to grace?"

"Well, you did wake up in my bed this morning. Would you prefer I kick you out of the castle again?"

"You've been trying to kill me for years."

"And you tried to kill me last night." Regina smiled.

"You are not this forgiving." Snow countered as she sat.

The Queen smiled, "I'm not. But there are political uses to forgiveness. You can be welcome back with open arms as long as you swear fidelity to me. Personally and publicly."

Regina's eyes met hers, and Snow swallowed. "And we act like last night never happened?"

"Only if you wish. I certainly wouldn't force you into my bed."

"Why, Regina?"

"Why because I think having the Bandit Snow White in my court makes me stronger not weaker."

Snow tilted her head, "I'm not sure I can go back to being a princess."

"I'm sure we'll find a role for you in the court."

Snow felt the heavy blade in the folds of her dress. She knew she shouldn't trust her. "Are you trying to claim that you won't kill me?"

"Not today. Perhaps tomorrow." Regina said casually as she sipped her wine.

"You said that last night."

"And it was true last night."

"I'm supposed to trust you won't kill me, Regina?" Snow asked skeptically.

"That's not what I said. I said I won't kill you today. Given that you've committed treason and attempted to kill your queen I think that's quite generous."

"You killed my father." Snow said flatly.

Regina tilted her head, "I don't know what you are talking about. That insane Genie killed him."

Snow gave her a skeptical look.

"You are welcome to sleep your last night in the dungeon, Snow. Or you can take my offer."

"Or I could run away again. You haven't been able to find me for years."

"You could do that... but why? You clearly have ... interests here. Interests that I wouldn't be adverse to humoring."

Snow raised both eyebrows.

"As I told you last night, if I'd know that's what you wanted I might not have tried to kill you."

"I don't trust your word you know," Snow said after a moment's thought.

"Nor should you princess, I've taken everything you had. And now I'm offering you some of it back at the price." The Evil Queen said with a sneer that highlighted the scar across her lip.

"And what's the price?" Snow asked defiantly.

"That you'll now owe everything you have to me."

* * *

"Really Rumple, dear, you need to get a new girl. Ever since you kicked the old one out the entire place has been going to wreck and ruin."

Regina smiled as she strolled into the Dark One's castle. He looked up from his spinning with an annoyed, but then curious expression. She enjoyed taunting him. She knew he'd been looking for the girl, as quietly as the Dark One could, but the maid was locked in her most secure tower. Ready to be used when she saw fit to destroy her old teacher. But for now he had uses. "What are you looking for today, Regina."

"I had a most curious encounter with Snow White last night. Much more... murdery... then I remember her."

"Yes well, that will happen when you rip out your heart, metaphorically or physically."

Regina laughed, "Oh don't tell me..." It was so perfect, so so very perfect. "That prince that she was running about with. The one set to marry Midas' daughter. She came to you for a potion."

"She did indeed. And now he's out looking for her."

She tilted her head. "Are you going to interfere in my plans for her?"

Rumplestiltskin smiled broadly, "Now why would I do that dearie, I already have what I need from them and a potion made of tragic true love denied is so much more difficult to obtain." He moved closer to her and touched her chin. Regina resisted moving away from him lest he sense weakness. "I take it that you intend something tragic?"

Regina just smiled, "Your powers of foresight aren't really required to figure that out."


	3. Chapter 3

Snow had been in the court for ten days and Regina still hadn't killed her. Though she also hadn't promised not to kill her for anymore than a day at a stretch, which had its charms but was rather deeply creepy. Or ... something else. Regina looked at her now openly desirous, as what she'd done with her in that moment when Snow thought her life was over had changed the way the Queen thought of her. Still there were no demands. She had her old rooms back, and the servants were ordered to treat her with respect... though very few of the ones she remembered were still there... and even the Black Knights, who had spent years chasing her seemed under orders to be respectful. It looked hard for a lot of them, but she was rather sure most of them were simple thugs.

But the thing that confused her was the Queen.

Regina was hardly ignoring her. They took meals together. But she spent much of her day on the affairs of the kingdom and never called for her presence. It felt, and Snow wasn't sure she wanted to admit this, like she was small again. Chasing after the Regina desperate for her attention.

The fact that Regina didn't seem to consider her dangerous at all angered her a little. All her weapons had been left in her possession, and the Queen did nothing to stop her from carrying around the dagger in the folds of her dress.

It made something in her boil a bit.

She should feel something for her. Even the hate was better than this mild indifference.

It was that frustration that led her to the Queen's chambers late in an evening as Regina was sitting in a chair reading a jewel encrusted spell book.

"Hello Snow. Are you here to kill me again?" The smile and the sneer. The daring. It made her want to wrap her hands around Regina's throat. And something about that thought seemed to communicate on her face and Regina reached out with a casual hand and Snow was flung against one of the walls, the air leaving her longs temporarily from the impact. "I do believe we should establish some ground rules for when you come to my chambers at night."

Regina strolled confidently towards her, reaching her in seemingly to few strides for the distance covered. She reached up ran the back of her knuckles across Snow's jaw.

"Tell me Snow, do you think you can kill me?"

"Yes." She breathed quietly.

Regina smiled, "I think you could too. I think you have the taste of blood and darkness. Living like an you did, having to do what you had to survive."

Regina waved a hand and in a puff of purple smoke her dress was gone and the dagger fell to the ground.

"But the difference is, I don't think you want to kill me." Regina leaned in, so that she was speaking practically on top of her. "I think you want to own me. And that... that my princess will never be."

She kissed Snow on the neck, and Snow tilted her head to the side which made Regina laugh.

"But you see, the reverse is already true. My name is written on the darkness of your heart. The part of you that you were able to hide for so long." Regina's fingers moved over one of her breasts barely touching her, lingering and dancing. Light sparks of energy coming here and there. "The darkness Snow, the darkness longs for you if you ignore it, it only feasts more. The darkness takes what belongs to it. And you belong to the darkness."

She gave Snow's nipple a rough pinch and a pained gasp escaped.

A grin appeared across the Queen's face. "Tell me your heart's desire, Snow White."

Snow shook her head. "I'm... I'm not like you say. I'm not dark."

The laugh was cruel, possessive, mocking.

"You've always been dark. Selfish. Possessive. Living as a wild woman just stripped away the pretense." Regina's hand moved down between her legs. "And becoming a woman has stripped away other pretenses. Your desires are impossible to hide."

Regina ran a finger along her clit and Snow closed her eyes.

"Look at me, Snow White. I want you to know who makes you feel this way. I want you to know this feeling belongs to ME. Just as you belong to ME."

Snow forced herself to look into the Queen's dark, rage filled eyes. She should be afraid. She should be terrified. But she wasn't.

"Yes, my Queen."

Regina smiled. She pushed a finger into her, feeling around and watching Snow's body writhe at the stimulation. And then she pushed three in, just enough to make it uncomfortable, and that seemed to push the monster-queen even more. She pumped her hand until Snow was beyond caring who or how this was happening.

"Please..."

Regina smiled. "Such a little slut." With her free hand she grabbed her chin and made her look at her. "But my little slut, and you will always be mine."

And deep in Snow's darkening heart... she knew that was true.

* * *

The next morning Snow woke again in Regina's bed, alone, she shivered as she placed her feet on the cold stone and slipped into a dressing gown.

She thought about trying to slip back to her rooms, but the height of the sun in the sky told her there would be too many people around the castle halls to see her in that state. So with some hesitation she rang the servant's bell and the same mousy maid that had greeted her on her first morning appeared.

"What do you need, Your Highness."

"Where is the Queen?"

She was careful not to look in Snow's eyes as she answered. "Her Majesty likes to work early in the morning. She gets up not long after sunrise. She said... that you might be sore."

The girl clearly wasn't comfortable knowing that many secrets about the royal family. But she was Regina's maid so it was impossible that she didn't know how to keep her mouth shut, so Snow was less worried and only slightly ashamed.

"Please fetch me some clothes. Riding clothes."

"Do you need me to send word to the stables?"

Snow shook her head. "No, but what I intend to do requires more arm movement than dress and full corset allows."

She looked confused, but did as she was told. After dressing in a fine brown leather pair of riding breaches and a cream colored over blouse Snow found her way down to the courtyard by the guard hall. She walked among the men who had hunted her as if they were of no concern to her and selected a bow from the weapons racks. It wasn't of that high a quality but it would do, as well as quiver full of arrows.

What started as simple practice so that she could clear her mind turned into quite the show as expert shot after expert shot landed within the ten ring. She was aware that she was attracting a crowd and that many of the guardsman were beginning to exchange silver as bets were placed on the Princess' skills. Part of her was grimly satisfied as she even heard some of the men who had hunted her boast about the feats they had seen her do in the chase.

When she landed her last arrow though, the crowd was silent and there was only the sound of one person clapping.

The Queen, from a balcony above the courtyard.

And part of Snow, a part she wasn't even sure was real, could not help but be proud that she had pleased the Queen.


	4. Chapter 4

She didn't sleep in the Queen's chambers every night. When she did they didn't even always have sex. One cold evening all that happened was that Snow lay her head in Regina's lap and the Queen stroked her hair and whispered something that might be like love to her. As much as the Queen was capable of loving her, or maybe anyone. Part of her liked to toy with the idea that she was the only one the Evil Queen could love. But part of her was afraid that the Evil Queen could never really love her specifically. Either way a month back at home and she was firmly within the Queen's grasp.

Their conversations were still peppered with insults, taunts, though never anything like an admission to having killed her father. But Snow found herself needing those insults. Needing to hear the compliments buried within them.

"I have something for you, Snow." Regina said at breakfast one day, and she waved for two servants to come in with a long wooden box with the Queen's coat of arms inlaid on the top. "I am told that these are best made to measure, so when the seamstresses were making clothing for you I had them turn over their measurements."

Snow opened the box and inside was a magnificent bow, made just for her size, and when she picked it up it was light, and with the perfect draw weight. Regina smiled at her pleased expression.

"I could enchant it of course so that it would never miss, but that would be cheating wouldn't it. And a waste of a fine archer. But I have enchanted it to be nearly indestructible. Heat, cold, water, nothing you could drag it through on a hunt or in battle will harm it."

Snow smiled, perhaps the widest smile she'd had since she came home, and kissed Regina on the cheek. The queen stiffened a little, but allowed it. "It's beautiful Regina. I don't know how to thank you."

Regina's smile was predatory. "Oh, I think you'll find a way. I understand you know something of werewolves."

Snow got a sinking feeling in her stomach... Red and her grandmother... Regina couldn't possibly be asking... "I have some experience..."

Regina waved her hand. "I know about your little friends. This has nothing to do with them. But there is a pack in the north woods that is terrorizing five villages. I think it would be a good moment for you to show your loyalty and to lead my men into hunting them down. I am told you are the best tracker in the kingdom... or is that as much an exaggeration as your purity?"

She trailed a finger along her neck and Snow turned bright red. "How many villagers have been killed."

"I don't really know... some number... individual peasants are less important than the fact that they're too afraid to work their fields and a famine will cause unrest."

Snow tilted her head. "You have a funny way of caring for the people, Regina."

"I am not your father, Snow. And your father was a fraud. He talked about happiness but couldn't be bothered to know what caused unhappiness. For those people... it's a full belly and to know that the crown cares that they're not torn limb from limb by monsters."

"And you care?"

"I care because I care about good order. Isn't that enough?"

Snow wanted to say no. Wanted to say that a Queen should take real interest. But part of her had to admit, remembering long winters in the forest, that there was something to what Regina was saying.

"And I want a good wolf pelt for the floor in front of the fire in my study. Gray if you can. An alpha female."

Snow smiled, "You are a bitch you know that, my Queen."

"Such respect and disrespect in one sentence. Careful now... there are places in this castle you don't know because your father wanted you to think he was a good man."

It might have been her usual taunting, but there was something of truth in what the Queen said, a truth Snow didn't want to question to carefully.

* * *

Snow had to admit being the hunter rather than the hunted was invigorating. And the Black Knights weren't as stupid as they'd seemed when she was running from them. A few even ventured conversations, telling her their stories. Of second chances at a better life in the Queen's service. Sure there were thugs among them, but there were also good earnest men. And competent soldiers who tried to stay out of the way of their employer's rage.

The wolf pack was real, and the terror of the villages not an exaggeration. The fact that the queen's men were there to help was both welcome and surprising. And that the Princess Snow White, wanted bandit and rebel against the crown was leading them even more so.

Part of Snow knew this was Regina's real intention. Soon every villager in the north woods would know that she'd returned to her stepmothers side. And soon after that the entire kingdom. And if she did decide to run again she'd have trouble finding anything like the same kind of sympathy.

But did she really want to run from Regina now? Or from her bed more to the point? Snow really didn't want to process exactly how she'd ended up there.

They bagged the Queen's pelt on the seventh day after losing a dozen men, they broke the back of the pack by the tenth. They were cleaning up the area, searching caves and other potential hideouts in case any more were hiding the noblemen approached her.

"Snow...!"

She drew her bow and there was an arrow pointed right at his face.

"It's ... it's me James. Come on we have to get you out of here, I knocked out two of the guardsmen to take their horses..."

"A horse thief who announces himself. How convenient. You do know that's a hanging offense in this kingdom. Much less assaulting a the royal guards."

"Snow... you have to listen to me. The Dwarfs told me what you did. They said you'd taken a potion..."

He had his hands up, and he was approaching slowly. There was something vaguely familiar about him and she hesitated. And then without warning or permission he kissed her.

And she punched him.

"What the hell was that!? Who do you think you are?! Who do you think I am!?" She didn't know where the rage came from, but it went straight to her heart.

"Snow that was supposed to be True Love's Kiss... to break whatever curse this is..."

"Well you better hope for true love's stab wounds if you don't start running now."

She should capture him she knew, but he was bigger than she and she had nothing to hold him with. "Run before my patience and my mercy wear thin."

There was shock in the man's eyes, but he did take her warning...

... and David ran away from Snow White.


	5. Chapter 5

Regina was admiring the wolf pelt when Snow came storming into her study, drawing the dagger from her belt and pushing her against a nearby wall, the blade against her throat. Except much to Snow's annoyance the queen wasn't afraid, or even breathing particularly quickly.

"Good afternoon, Snow. I see you've returned from the hunt invigorated."

"A man tried to use True Love's Kiss to break a curse. What did you do to me?"

Regina, who was annoyingly acting like there wasn't a blade to her. "A man? Kissed you?" And much to Snow's surprise there was something in Regina's eyes she didn't expect. She'd wanted fear but what she got was ... jealousy?

"I punched him." Snow said through gritted teeth, "People don't try and break curses that don't exist. Now tell me, _my Queen_, what did you do?"

She smiled. "I didn't do anything Snow. You took a potion to forget him yourself. To escape him."

"And I ended up in your bed."

"That... you did of your own accord dear." She smiled. "You must have been particularly desperate to escape him to have gone to Rumplestiltskin for a solution. Now, if you want to continue this conversation you will let me go before I teach you a lesson for manhandling your Queen."

Snow thought about what just a flick of her blade could do. It could end all the suffering... but ... she'd never have Regina again. And so she let her go, and part of her was pleased when Regina seemed to start breathing again and put a hand to her throat before sending the other one out and suddenly Snow was being lifted off the ground and choking for air. "The last time Princess. That is the last time you pull a dagger on me without severe consequence. Do I make myself clear?"

Snow dropped the dagger and put her hands to her throat, struggling.

"Don't bother dear, fighting it only makes you lose more breath. Answer me." The Evil Queen ordered.

Snow nodded and was dropped to the floor desperate for oxygen. Regina walked past, to sit down behind her desk. "His name is Prince James, he's the spoiled son of King George. You, somehow it was never clear to me, became involved in a relationship with him. He pretended to be kind and gentle but I have to suspect his actual nature became clear. He was already betrothed to Princess Abigail, King Midas' daughter, and given that he's a greedy son of a bitch I'm sure he wasn't about to give up all that gold to marry a disgraced bandit princess."

She nodded as Snow began to stand. "Over on the wall, you can borrow the intelligence diary on George's kingdom and read about your lost love to your heart's delight."

The intelligence diaries were something that had been kept by her father as well. They were thick books of all the information they learned about their neighbors. From the state of their armies to the prospects of their royal families.

"His is the blue one with the lilies and lion." Regina said as she picked up a basket of dispatches. "Don't get your heart broken. You are hardly the first young woman he's used. He got one killed fighting giants to steal their beans and subsidized his drunken debauchery not long ago."

Snow took the heavy book from the shelf, wondering if she really wanted to know.

"Oh, and Snow... the price of that little trick with the knife. A week away from my bed."

Regina didn't even look up as she said it, and part of Snow's heart ... or maybe it was significantly lower... ached. She'd already been away so long on the hunt.

"But if ... if I was just his mistress... why did he think True Love's Kiss would work?" Snow asked quietly, feeling so young and foolish again.

"Because men always think it's love to possess a woman, dear. It just took you an extraordinarily long time to figure that out."

"And with you? What do you think possessing me is?"

Regina looked up. "Possessing you."

Snow's heart sank, but at least there was honestly there. The Queen didn't love her, but she didn't pretend, and as she opened the heavy book in her hands she saw page after page listing Prince James' conquests and she realized that what Regina had told her made sense.

She'd just been one more conquest to this man. But she'd always be the singular conquest to Regina.

* * *

Snow cried for a week. The book hadn't mentioned her of course. But she could see that Regina wasn't lying. The list of Prince James' ill behavior went back further than Regina. There were accounts in the diary of how the teenage prince had used and abused servant girls, and notations in her father's handwriting to keep him away from Snow.

And somehow... she'd fallen right into his arms.

And from there right into hers. She could feel her heart hardening the longer she was around Regina. Could feel the anger growing in a way that didn't feel natural. But she needed her. She needed her so badly she had assumed that it was her magic that was drawing her towards the Queen.

She couldn't go to her bed and she couldn't cry all night in her own. Early one morning, before the sun and before the castle was bustling, she found herself walking the halls not paying any attention to where she was going.

"Offphf... I'm so sorry Your Highness. I didn't see where I was going."

It was a lie of course. Servants lied all the time when their employers caused a mess. In this case the poor girl was covered in water from the basin she had been carrying.

To the Queen's chambers.

"Let me help you..."

"No ... ah... no thank you, Your Highness. I really need to get a new basin of water and dry myself off before I am late for the Queen."

"Or she'll hurt you." Snow said quietly.

The servant looked confused. "No... or I'll be bad at my job. Really Your Highness... the entire world doesn't work the way you royals do. I would have thought you'd know that living out in the forest."

Somehow, a simple maid could see past the Evil Queen. How was it that Snow never could? How was it that she had assumed that Regina had cursed her? How she had assumed this was her plot when it was Snow herself that had sneaked into the castle to kill her. That certainly couldn't have been Regina's plan.

And she thought of this man again. This man who thought he had the right to kiss her in the woods because he thought she was his to possess. And the anger welled inside her again. And the darkness grew in her heart.


	6. Chapter 6

Once, when Snow was fourteen and Regina and her father were on one of their interminable tours of the kingdom to ensure the happiness of the people, Snow caught sight of a public gallows. As a curious child, one whose every question was indulged, she had asked Regina what it was. Before she could answer, the King had said that it was a place that bad people were sent so that others could learn from their mistakes. When she was sixteen, at dinner one evening, after telling her father and stepmother all about what she had learned at lessons she had asked if there were dungeons in the castle. Her father had smiled at her and told her, with that benevolent tone of his, that in a happy kingdom there was no need for dungeons.

Regina of course knew differently.

She knew at the moment that there were a dozen prisoners being held, murders and rapists and thieves. No one as interesting as a rebel, though a robbery of a royal treasure carriage had put the Prince of Thieves on the list of those wanted by King Leopold, but still, no matter how happy the kingdom there was always a need for dungeons. But no, in the world of good King Leopold and his daughter a dungeon was only needed by a tyrant.

Except Leopold was a tyrant. Regina knew that better than anyone else. For she was his prisoner in a gilded cage.

But one consequence of that little fantasy was that the dungeons were the one part of the castle Snow did not know like the back of her hand. The prisoner was brought in at night, a hood over his face, and sent in the deepest, most inaccessible cell under the castle. The next day, not that he could see daylight, he had his first visitor and only visitor.

"My my, Snow at least has good taste." He looked up as she approached a wide appreciative smile on her face.

"You are the Queen." Regina tilted her head as he stood. "What have you done to Snow?"

"Done, oh my dear, Charming, I'm not finished doing." She reached a hand up to touch his muscled arm, but he pulled away.

"Tsk. I paid quite the price to George to save your life, Charming. You could at least be grateful."

"I have a name." He growled. "And I'll save my gratitude for someone with better intentions.

"But it isn't James and I don't really care what the shepherd pretending to be a prince calls himself." She smiled. "And you don't know my intentions."

"David." He narrowed his eyes. "You want to kill Snow."

"If I wanted to kill her I'd have snapped her neck when she snuck into my bed chambers a month ago. Besides, Charming suits you." She said with an amused smile.

"What are you doing to Snow?"

"Finally the right question." Regina paced in front of him. "I'm finally getting my revenge."

He shook her head, "What could Snow have possibility done to provoke this kind of hatred?"

"She took something from me." Regina growled and her hand came up to choke him. "She took my love and my innocence and my happiness and I will have all those things from her and more."

He shook her head. "You were never any of those things."

"Oh how naïve, how appropriate for Snow's True Love. A man who looks the part of a prince with no understanding of the world his clothes and sword claim he belongs."

"You are going to kill me."

"Oh no, dear. I'm not going to kill you. She will. But she's not ready. So I'm going to hold you for safe keeping and release you when my dog is ready to hunt you down." She grinned widely. "And I will reward her richly for that."

"You are a monster." He shook his head. "Snow will never serve you."

"You don't understand her as well as you think. You see, Snow has loved me longer than she loved you. It doesn't take that much to twist love into something else."

"Why would she love you? You've done nothing but hurt her."

"And not understanding the woman you've thrown away your life for, David, is the thing that will cost you it."

"Bitch. It won't work! She's a good person!"

"She's a monster, and she's been a monster since she was ten years old." She patted his face. "We'll talk again. You amuse me."

The smile faded when she turned away from him. He reminded her of someone, and the look in his eyes, the anger and fear and disappointment. She walked confidently away but turned a corner and leaned against a wall and closed her eyes until the image of Daniel left her mind. Daniel wasn't a pretender. Daniel would have run away from George and left the trappings of a prince behind. Daniel would not have allowed the woman he loved to think he was anything he was not. Daniel would not have driven her to the extremes that that man drove Snow. And nothing that man thought about her mattered.

She pulled a chain inside her dress and clutched the ring tightly. "I've got her Daniel. I've got her and soon I can stop hurting."


	7. Chapter 7

Snow had taken to going down to the guards courtyard to practice her archery each morning after the Queen left her chambers. Sometimes she even caught sight of Regina watching her with what she thought might be a real smile. She'd found something like an accommodation with many of the Black Knights. The hunt had helped a great deal, and she wondered if that was also part of the Queen's plan, besides spreading the word to the rest of the kingdom that she had reconciled. Danger and battle could form close bonds.

But not all the men were without grievances and after her quiver was shot and she was taking the arrows out of the target she half heard a grumble from behind her, "... she's just the Queen's whore."

She turned around quickly, "Who said that?"

She half expected no one to admit it. After all, whispering behind a the royal's back was a pastime of castle servants and had been since she was a girl and probably long before that. But one man, big and burly, stepped forward. "What of it? Are you going to try and claim you didn't beg your way back into her graces by warming her bed?"

A group of guardsman behind him laughed, and the humiliation made her blood boil, as did the insult to Regina. She grabbed a sword that had been leaning against a side wall and drew it on him. He had at least eight stone on her, and she was vaguely aware of the comic look of the petite princess and the giant guardsman at sword point.

But he'd hardly be the first Black Knight she'd bested. He gave her a contemptuous smile, "I don't play games Princess."

"I assure you, neither does she, Harold." The voice of the Queen projected down from the balcony. "I suggest you draw your sword before she runs you through."

The man gulped, and the crowd laughed, not at the queen, but at his sudden predicament. He drew his blade and faced off with his smaller opponent. The fight went as many of her previously ones with the men of this army. There were few clashes of blades, and much more speed as she used her size and leverage to her advantage. There were of course close calls. He nearly took her head off in one mighty swing early in the fight. But the longer she lasted the more of the crowd was on her side.

When his sword went clattering across the court yard and she had her blade to his neck he held up his hands, the crowd roared its approval and everyone looked up at the Queen. She held up a hand and they hushed.

"Now kill him," she ordered calmly.

The crowd hushed and Snow hesitated. She'd killed before. In self defense. But this man was unarmed and at her mercy. She looked between him and then back up at Regina who fixed her with an icy stare. The longer she waited though, the more confident the guardsman became. He even smiled.

"Good at taking orders in bed, but hard to put blood on your hands?" His mocking tone and Regina's cold demanding eyes played on her heart. Regina shook her head in disgust and turned to leave. The idea that she had failed the Queen drove the last of her hesitation away... and the man's body hit the stone floor as the crowd gasped.

She looked down at the blood dripping from her sword and then back up at the balcony. The smile on Regina's face was wider than any she'd seen from her in more than a decade.

* * *

What she'd done was shocking to her. After the anger had faded and she'd realized what she'd done, Snow was violently ill and she'd just spent the last ten minutes trying to wash the blood from her hands. She'd had to change clothes as well. Death by sword blade wasn't neat or clean. Though it had been fast.

"Stop scrubbing, your hands will become rougher than they already are from the way you've been living." Regina's voice came from behind her and she waved one of her hands and Snow's hands were magically clean and dry.

"I shouldn't have done that." She said quietly.

"Of course you should. I ordered it." Regina said, touching her face with the back of her knuckles. "If you had not I would have snapped his neck for the insolence. He was dead the moment he uttered the insult against you. "

Something in Snow, deep in her darkening heart, sang with the idea that Regina was offended on her behalf. "He said you..."

Regina smiled and tilted her head, "Do you think he is the first to circulate such a rumor about me. An powerful woman is always a slut. That is the way men try to deny us our due. But you defended my honor, and your own."

She kissed her on the lips. It was possessive, but not angry. Dominant but also sensual. Snow found herself kissing her back even if she was still troubled. But Regina seemed to have a way of making her troubles fade into insignificance.

She knew that the Queen was re-enforcing a lesson of the day. She knew that this would hardly be the last man she'd order her to kill. But she couldn't help it. She needed this bit of Regina. Needed this attention. Needed something that felt like it might be love and affection.

Even if she knew it probably was neither of those things.


	8. Chapter 8

For the first time in their relationship Regina summoned Snow to her chambers at night. It wasn't immediately clear what her intentions were, she unpinned Snow's hair and brushed it out as she had done when she was younger, but the way she touched her was not the same. They both dressed for bed, and once under the covers Regina pulled Snow's head to her bosom and stroked her hair. "I have believed, for a very long time, that the world is made up of wolves and sheep. Those who eat and those who are eaten."

Snow looked up at her curiously, and for some reason this felt like Regina sharing some truth with her, rather than all the manipulations she knew had passed between them. "I was a sheep when we met and turned into a wolf to protect myself. And you were a sheep for a very long time, Snow. Unworthy of the power that being a princess gave you. But you've proven yourself to be a wolf now, and wolves deserve respect."

She kissed her earlobe. "You are a princess, and I am your queen."

Snow smiled, and curled up against her. "And your enemies will be dead at my feet, my Queen."

Regina chuckled. "That's my Snow White."

* * *

The next day an armorer was sent for so that Snow could be fitted for both battle armor and ceremonial armor. She didn't know why, but the queen had ordered it and she wasn't about to object because an honor was clearly in store for her.

She was surprised how comfortable it was. She'd seen so many men move awkwardly in the plate that she assumed it always was so, but the grizzled master craftsman explained that most armor wasn't fitted properly to ordinary soldiers, but she was getting it custom made. That when he was done she should be able to do cartwheels in it, because being unable to move well in battle was as deadly as going in with no protection at all.

The battle armor was simple, a very dark gray, not quite black, but finely made and not too heavy for her frame. The ceremonial armor was a work of art, and Snow quickly realized that Regina had to have commissioned it when she first arrived because there was no way that it could have been made that quickly. It was the same very dark gray, but with black inlaid designs of horses and wolves. A reminder, she realized, both of her past with Regina, and of the queen's admonition that she should always be a wolf.

"You look... uneasy." Regina said a little teasingly from the door.

"It's still strange wearing all of this."

"It's only for the ceremony." Regina seemed to be taken her in completely, and went to a side table where a black cloak lay and she put it over Snow herself as if completing the look. "My very own Dark Crusader."

She kissed her on the lips and Snow longed to extend the contact. But the queen pulled away. "Are you prepared for this. To swear fidelity to me before the entire court?"

"If I told you that I had no reservations you know it would be a lie."

Regina nodded.

"You've been shaping me." Snow said simply.

"Of course I have. How else was I to turn my enemy into my subject."

She reached up and ran the cold metal of one of her gloved fingers against the Queen's face. "You made me a killer... but I am not complaining. I am so much more comfortable this way. The honest darkness suits me much more than the pretentions of purity."

Regina laughed. "Oh how your father would have killed me if he knew what I've done to you."

A statement that not so long ago might have made Snow mad. But now it made her chuckle a little. There was truth to it.

"I have one more gift for you." She brought her soon to be knight-princess to a side board where there was a cloth covering something. "I was worried this wouldn't come in time. I had to commission it from foreign craftsman."

She took the cloth away to reveal a very fine sword, not a full board sword which would have overwhelmed Snow, but one sized to her, the blade was like a mirror, but the dark gray hilt was wrapped in black silk, with wolves on the pommel.

Snow ran her hand across the blade and smiled.

"Are you ready to be my knight, Snow?"

"I've wanted to be that to you for longer than I've wanted to be your lover."

The Queen kissed her. "And you are both now. And we will burn the world together."

* * *

A servant entered David's cell and set down a tray of food. Much better than he'd been getting, there was roast meat and fresh vegetables, and even some sort of cake. The Queen followed and he looked up. "What's the occasion, finally decided to kill me?"

"I decided to kill you long before I met you, my pretender prince. But the occasion was your love's knighting, and I thought you would like to partake in the feast." Regina smiled sweetly and watched the anger and frustration build in the prisoner. "Oh dear, you'd love to break those chains and attack me. You do understand that even if you could you'd have no chance against my magic."

David shook her head. "You must be a sad woman, Your Majesty, to sit around in your gilded luxury and plot the destruction of an innocent."

"See, that is what you don't understand, shepherd. Snow was never innocent. Never pure. She was vain and selfish and evil. I am just allowing those traits to run free so that the world can see them. Not to mention she's so much more interesting this way."

He shook his head, "You are a monster."

"I am," she agreed and she could see his surprise. "I was made into one. The recipe for making a monster is to subtract love, add isolation, and reward the worst impulses until they no longer seem so bad. Until you seek praise for things that you would never have dreamed of before."

David narrowed his eyes. "Are you talking about Snow... or yourself."

She grew angry and clinched a fist to keep herself from hurting him for that insolence. "You made Snow this way. I couldn't have hoped to push her this far without your love, and then her desperation to end the heart ache. Without her choice to forget her love for you I could never have made my beautiful monster."

She nodded to the tray of food. "Enjoy it. We would not be feasting were it not for your doomed love."


	9. Chapter 9

Snow sat on her horse, bow in hand watching the village burn. The guardsmen were moving from house to house at one end dealing with any survivors. She had an arrow already in place as she saw the man running from the village she followed the moving target before shooting him in the back. The screams and the terror somehow beyond her hearing. The Queen had shown her proof that this part of the kingdom had been paying taxes to King George, and underpaying their rightful monarch. It was one thing to have a boundary dispute but it was another to support the enemy. And if they weren't going to be loyal to the Queen they'd be dead.

This was the third village in a week that had faced this treatment. And there would be even less mercy shown once she pushed forward into George's actual lands. The knowledge that his playboy of a son had used her... had left her weak and so desperate that she'd taken the drastic action that lead her to the Queen. It filled her with a boiling rage.

"Careful Snow. You have to allow some to live if the lesson is going to be learned by others."

She turned to see the Queen riding up beside her. She was in a simple, at least for her, red riding outfit.

"The Evil Queen is really telling me to do a little less killing?" Snow teased, but Regina shook her head.

"Not less... just a little more strategic." The word had traveled throughout the kingdom. The bandit Snow White was now the Queen's knight and crossing her bow was in many ways even more dangerous than facing the evil sorceress herself. It broke the back of what little resistance there was to the Queen. There had been an undercurrent of revolt which existed almost solely on legend that was the Bandit Snow White. Now, not only had the Evil Queen destroyed that hope, but in turning her against them she destroyed the spark that even allowed that hope to be created.

And now the fire could be brought beyond her borders.

"Before the armies march I have one more job for you." Regina said quietly. "Prince James has been spotted in the western forest."

The mention of James. The man who had used her and thrown her away for Midas' gold made her sit taller in the saddle.

"He is trying to organize a rebellion. The knights have been chasing him for days but .. as I think you know... their tracking skills are limited."

"You want me to capture him. Interrogate him."

Regina shook her head. "As tempting as watching you torture him would be..." There was a funny little smile on the Queen's face as she said that, "I want you to hunt him down and kill him. His head on a spike to be carried before our armies as we take his father's kingdom."

She nodded.

"Make sure he's recognizable. Whatever else you do to his body... is your business."

She nodded again. "I'll bring you his head, Regina."

"I know you will." The smile the Queen gave her favorite was radiant.

* * *

"It's time shepherd." The Queen said as she walked towards his cell. "And to show you that I am not without mercy, I'll even give you a chance to live."

"What have you done witch."

"Oh, I've set your true love on a murderous killing spree." She said with a slight grin. "You see, shepherd, a very long time ago she took something from me. She took my true love. And now... now she's going to take her own."

She smiled so wide that the vain in her forehead looked like it was about to burst. "A dark heart only gets darker, but there is nothing that will destroy a heart more than murdering their own true love. But... as I said... I'm a fair woman. You could survive this. If you run far enough, fast enough, or ... by some miracle, you kill your hunter. But I'm going to take my bet on the woman who has lived as a bandit for years rather than the man whose major qualifications for his claim to a throne are his square jaw and good looks."

"You won't win."

"I already have, Charming."

She waved her hand and he was standing in the middle of a forest, his sword in hand, and in the distance he could hear the sound of barking dogs and horses hooves.

* * *

The report of the guardsman who had been chasing Prince James for days was unsatisfying. They knew he was in these woods, but he was like a ghost. She called off the hunting dogs right away. If they hadn't found him in the time they'd been out they didn't have his sent. She sent most of the men to guard the exit points make sure the Prince couldn't escape. Her bow in hand she began tracking herself, with only a handful of the black knights she trusted most behind her.

She was the best tracker in the Enchanted Forest.

There was no question in her mind that she would have him soon enough. In her heart there was a dull pain she couldn't identify, but did her best to ignore.

* * *

The sound of the dogs was gone, and the horses were no longer stumping through the woods. David was sure that he had finally managed to shake the pursuit. Now, he just had to figure out how to get through to Snow. Their first encounter weeks ago had been... less than productive... but he was sure that he could shake through whatever had made her forget him and whatever the royal bitch had done to her.

He heard the snap of a twig and hid behind a fallen tree to see two black knights looking over a map. Their horses behind them. If he could take them and get a mount he had a chance...

* * *

The arrow flew fair and true from her bow straight into the prince's back as he began running towards the bait. He hit the ground in a thud as the air rushed out of his lungs through the hole in his back. Snow walked towards him, another arrow ready. The two men who had been out in the open moved towards the fallen body and one pulled the arrow from the wound and kicked him over on his back.

"Snow..."

"I found you." She smiled. "I was always going to find you."

He shook his head looking into her cold eyes as she pointed the arrow right at his heart.

"Please... she's lied to you." He had one last hope of life, of saving both his own and of salvaging hers.

"Of course she's lied. She's Regina." She didn't care though. Because that evening she would be presenting the gift to her and Regina would reward her.

The arrow let go, ripping through his chest and his heart, and something within her own ached so much that she nearly lost her balance. As David the Sheppard, briefly prince James, lay dead on the ground such that no true love's kiss could save him the last of the light in Snow White's heart faded to nothing.

Dark as coal.

And the Evil Queen and the Dark Princess would burn the world... together.


End file.
